MEGHAN and Harry’s decision to name their daughter Lilibet is a plaster to patch up the royal rift – and the tot could “return the family to some form of normality”, an expert has claimed.
Angela Levin says the baby was given the Queen’s nickname because the Duke of Sussex is keen to reconcile with his family.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
But the commentator – who wrote a biography of Harry – says there is likely to be a long way to go after he gave a series of bombshell interviews about his “nightmare” life as a senior royal.
It comes as:
- Meghan hinted at how she’ll raise her new daughter – years before welcoming tot
- Prince Harry is set to take a five-month paternity break
- Kate and William have sent Meghan and Harry a gift to welcome their new baby
- The LA-based couple are reportedly desperate to end their split with the royals
- The Palace was reportedly unaware of the baby news – and shared a social media post three hours after the news was made public
Relations between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royals remain at a “low ebb” – despite the tot’s arrival, she said.
Writing in the Telegraph, Ms Levin said: “Before she is even a month old, Lilibet could yet prove herself to be a ‘Band-Aid baby’ – a sticking plaster in Royal form to return the family to some form of normality after the turbulent year and a half since Megxit sparked several rounds of very public – and occasionally painful – soul-baring.”
Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor arrived at 11.40am on Friday in California.
The Queen’s 11th grandchild arrived just days before both Prince William and Harry are expected to reunite together in public at the unveiling of a statue dedicated to their late mother.
And Ms Levin said the little one could help heal Harry’s “genetic pain” – and reunite the family.
“His attitude to life could change,” she said.
“Perhaps despite his new life, I suspect he is unhappier than we think, and remains haunted by a catalogue of grievances.”
Since the initial Oprah interview aired on March 8, Harry has given a series of interviews said to have been deeply distressing for the royals.
Opening up in his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries, he accused his family of “total silence” and “neglect” when Meghan was suicidal and claimed his father made him “suffer” as a child.
He also insisted he would not be “bullied into silence” when he alleged The Firm “trapped” and smeared both he and Meghan.
But Ms Levin said: “It makes one wonder if the outpouring of the pain and frustration he has felt about his family and his brutal verbal attacks have been a way to cope with just how much he still misses his mother, and how much underneath it all he aches to get his family back.
“If he doesn’t, surely he wouldn’t bother talking about them.”
The Queen was given her nickname by her grandad King George V after she struggled to pronounce her name as a child.
Ms Levin said Meghan and Harry’s use of it is “quite demeaning”.
She told LBC it was a “terrible invasion of [the Queen’s] privacy,” and even suggested Harry had gone about asking his grandmother for permission in a “cunning” way.
Meanwhile, the Queen’s biographer Sally Bedell Smith says that with everyone “walking on eggshells” to keep Meghan and Harry happy, the monarch may have been left with “no choice” but to accept the baby’s name.
The royal expert told Vanity Fair: “In today’s tense climate, when everyone is walking on eggshells with Harry and Meghan, I can’t imagine that the Queen had any choice but to accept the name they presented to her.
“Even if she felt—as would be completely understandable—that it breaches her privacy with a suggestion of inappropriate intimacy.”
